Congo, Uganda clash over border
Jun 07, 2009
TENSION is brewing along the Uganda-DR Congo border in Nebbi district after the Congolese started constructing a Police post in a contested area near the Ugandan customs point at Goli.
By Frank Mugabi
TENSION is brewing along the Uganda-DR Congo border in Nebbi district after the Congolese started constructing a Police post in a contested area near the Ugandan customs point at Goli.
Nebbi resident district commissioner Betty Adima said the construction, which started last week, was causing unnecessary anxiety since the area is among those the two countries agreed to verify through a joint permanent commission.
Adima said the post was being built within 50 metres of Goli, which is considered to be a buffer zone.
She added that the builders were guarded by Congolese armed forces, which has caused panic among the local residents.
Adima blamed the Congolese officials in Mahagi district for trying to undercut the Ngurdoto-Tanzania Agreement in which presidents Yoweri Museveni and Joseph Kabila of the DR Congo agreed to re-mark the contested border areas to determine ownership.
She said members of the joint border remarking team had already surveyed Mahagi territory and were yet to make a final demarcation.
Adima expressed concern that although the Ngurdoto agreement signed at a summit in Arusha last September called for the demilitarisation of disputed areas, the Congolese had deployed armed personnel near Goli. She described it as “provocation†but stressed that the Ugandan Government would not take the same action.
“We have capacity to react strongly, but we won’t because we are people who keep the rule of law,†Adima said. However, she warned that the Government would not sit back if Ugandans were harassed or hurt.
Meanwhile, a meeting between officials from both sides of the border held at Goli on Saturday ended in disagreement.
Tempers flared when Adima, who led the Ugandan delegation, demanded an unconditional halt to the construction of the post, terming it as aggression. But the 20-member Congolese team that included the Mahagi district commissioner, identified as Lukango, and two MPs rejected the demand and left vowing to continue with the construction. They claimed they were acting within their land.
This is the second time the Congolese are trying to take over disputed border areas in the West Nile.
Last year, the Congolese stirred controversy when they used the army and police to shift their border point from 5km to within 200m of the Ugandan crossing point at Vurra in Arua district.
They erected a metallic and concrete barrier, and also planted a “welcome†signpost in the “no-man’s†land.
Although the area is still under Congolese occupation, it is one of those to be decided upon by the joint permanent commission.
Uganda and Congo also have a dispute over the ownership of Rukwanzi Island in Lake Albert.
In 2006, the two countries agreed that a joint technical team be put in place to remark its borders. It was also agreed at the meeting at Ngurdoto in Tanzania to form a joint administration of the island.
However, after over 20 months, there is no such administration in place, the disputed border areas have not been remarked and Uganda is blaming Congo for the delay.
Congo has never appointed a co-administrator for the island although Uganda appointed Drani Dradriga, as its representative to Rukwanzi. In April Dradriga told The New Vision that his team was ready to start work. He said 30 Police officers were on standby and waiting for the group from Congo to join them.
Uganda is also involved in a border dispute with Kenya over the ownership of Migingo Island on Lake Victoria. A survey to establish the border has already started.
TENSION is brewing along the Uganda-DR Congo border in Nebbi district after the Congolese started constructing a Police post in a contested area near the Ugandan customs point at Goli.
Nebbi resident district commissioner Betty Adima said the construction, which started last week, was causing unnecessary anxiety since the area is among those the two countries agreed to verify through a joint permanent commission.
Adima said the post was being built within 50 metres of Goli, which is considered to be a buffer zone.
She added that the builders were guarded by Congolese armed forces, which has caused panic among the local residents.
Adima blamed the Congolese officials in Mahagi district for trying to undercut the Ngurdoto-Tanzania Agreement in which presidents Yoweri Museveni and Joseph Kabila of the DR Congo agreed to re-mark the contested border areas to determine ownership.
She said members of the joint border remarking team had already surveyed Mahagi territory and were yet to make a final demarcation.
Adima expressed concern that although the Ngurdoto agreement signed at a summit in Arusha last September called for the demilitarisation of disputed areas, the Congolese had deployed armed personnel near Goli. She described it as “provocation†but stressed that the Ugandan Government would not take the same action.
“We have capacity to react strongly, but we won’t because we are people who keep the rule of law,†Adima said. However, she warned that the Government would not sit back if Ugandans were harassed or hurt.
Meanwhile, a meeting between officials from both sides of the border held at Goli on Saturday ended in disagreement.
Tempers flared when Adima, who led the Ugandan delegation, demanded an unconditional halt to the construction of the post, terming it as aggression. But the 20-member Congolese team that included the Mahagi district commissioner, identified as Lukango, and two MPs rejected the demand and left vowing to continue with the construction. They claimed they were acting within their land.
This is the second time the Congolese are trying to take over disputed border areas in the West Nile.
Last year, the Congolese stirred controversy when they used the army and police to shift their border point from 5km to within 200m of the Ugandan crossing point at Vurra in Arua district.
They erected a metallic and concrete barrier, and also planted a “welcome†signpost in the “no-man’s†land.
Although the area is still under Congolese occupation, it is one of those to be decided upon by the joint permanent commission.
Uganda and Congo also have a dispute over the ownership of Rukwanzi Island in Lake Albert.
In 2006, the two countries agreed that a joint technical team be put in place to remark its borders. It was also agreed at the meeting at Ngurdoto in Tanzania to form a joint administration of the island.
However, after over 20 months, there is no such administration in place, the disputed border areas have not been remarked and Uganda is blaming Congo for the delay.
Congo has never appointed a co-administrator for the island although Uganda appointed Drani Dradriga, as its representative to Rukwanzi. In April Dradriga told The New Vision that his team was ready to start work. He said 30 Police officers were on standby and waiting for the group from Congo to join them.
Uganda is also involved in a border dispute with Kenya over the ownership of Migingo Island on Lake Victoria. A survey to establish the border has already started.